My father and I made a memory that will last a life time. He had been longing to be by my side during a successful archery kill for years. On Nov 2nd 2013, we were successful. It was 45 degrees with a strong west wind and the rut action was in full swing. On our way into the property we noticed a lot of tracks on the road headed back to the parking area. We are generally pretty negative individuals, and we started with the negative comments as usual. We continued on to realize that it must have been a trapper setting his traps. On our hike back in we noticed a few sets that the trapper must have set that morning, our hopes were up once again. The location was a beautiful creek bottom with a few really good pinch points. I have hunted this area a few times last year, and once this year with my father. We saw some really good rut activity last Saturday in the same area. I choose to hang our set in a small bottom that I have always wanted to hunt, but for some reason I never did.
My father and I spent at least 15 min walking around trying to find a perfect tree, as all of you know that is almost impossible. I finally choose the tree and it was probably the most difficult spot for a set to be hung, but I knew it would be the perfect spot to cut off a cruising buck. So, I started unpacking the gear and started cutting and hanging our set. It took me roughly 25 to 30 min to get everything perfect, thank god I had my wicked tree gear saw. If anyone needs a reliable saw, I highly recommend the wicked tree gear products. At 3pm, we got all of our gear up and we settled in for our hunt. We realized that this spot was perfect, and more than likely a highly successful spot. Shortly after, we started to get excited and wouldn’t you know it the wind picked up and the rain started to poor down. Lets just say our negative thoughts and comments were bouncing all through that bottom like a pinball machine. At one point in time, I whispered to my dad “you have got to be kidding me.” His reply was “you will never see a deer with me in the stand” haha. Our negativity is horrible. However, in our defense we are both getting much better. 30 minutes after continuous wind and rain, the sun started to shine and the wind died down. Our positive thoughts and comments started to fill the air, and it was on “like donkie kong”. I leaned over once again and whispered to my dad “a buck has to cruise through this bottom “. No joke, within 5 minutes I caught a buck cruising the opposite side of the creek edge. I said ” buck, buck, buck,” and wouldn’t you know it he read the script perfect. He worked his way down the steep bank into the creek. I thought he was going to break his neck. He was all rutted up, stumbling into the water. It didn’t take him long to start working his way across the stream. Dad and I were whispering back and forth “you shoot it” “no, you shoot it” I had the best opportunity at this buck and I didn’t waste any time. He stopped at the creek edge to shake and clean himself off. At this time I took the opportunity to stand and get into position. The buck walked right in front of me offering me a 20 yard shot. I bleeped and buried my grizzly 2 blade right behind the shoulder. “You smoked him buddy” was the words I first heard as I watched the whitetail buck mule kick and snap the arrow in two pieces. He ran 30 yards and the rest was history. He was not a stud by any means, but he was to me!! It finally happened and it couldn’t have happened more perfect.
